BRAZIL BATTLES DRUGS ON BORDERS, STREETS

New Agency Will Coordinate Control Effort at National Level for First Time

SAO PAOLO, Brazil—Rapid increases in drug-related crime, especially drug
trafficking, have prompted President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to order the
creation of a special government body to coordinate drug policy.

The planned Special Secretariat on National Policies for the Control of
Drugs, which would be accountable to Cardoso, will coordinate the activities
of government agencies fighting drugs on three fronts: trafficking, use and
production. Final plans for the secretariat's operations are expected to be
presented to Cardoso this week, and the office may be operational before the
end of June, officials said.

The move to create the special secretariat signals a new urgency by the
government to address drug abuse, which has grown serious on the fringes of
society, and drug trafficking, which takes advantage of the country's long
and porous border.

Studies show that between 70 percent and 80 percent of all crimes are
related to drugs. Occasional drug use among public school students has
increased from 17 percent in 1987 to 24 percent in 1997 (a number that rises
to 90 percent among street children). And Brazil has become the main
corridor for cocaine export from Colombia to Europe and the United States.

Until now, however, Brazil's states have worked independently to combat the
problem. The secretariat will coordinate the activities of state and local
security agencies with 14 federal agencies that combat drugs. The
secretariat also will develop strategies and national policy on drug
control.

"To fight organized crime, we need organized action," said Gen. Alberto
Mendes Cardoso, chief of the Military Office of the Presidency, who is
responsible for initial studies on the secretariat.

"Public security problems such as robberies, murders and kidnappings are
increasingly related to drug taking or drug smuggling," he said. "This will
increase the scope and efficiency of our actions."

Closer cooperation with the United States and other Latin American countries
is also planned.

Brazil's Congress already has passed legislation aimed at curbing
traffickers' activities. The law, which the president signed at the end of
February, created mechanisms to identify "dirty" money and set prison terms
of three to 10 years for money laundering.

In addition, Cardoso approved a law Thursday authorizing government agencies
to shoot down hostile aircraft. Drug traffickers frequently smuggle drugs
over Brazil's borders by plane, but until now only warning shots were
allowed, and then only when all other warnings had failed.

Drug trafficking has increased markedly in Brazil, particularly in the last
five years, though combating it remains somewhat easier than in neighboring
countries because "the evil has not yet taken root here," Cardoso said.

"But we must act now before it is too late, before what is a problem becomes
an emergency," he said.

Some think it is already an emergency. While serious drug use generally is
acknowledged to be largely limited to certain segments of society -- notably
the urban poor, prisoners and street children -- in a nation of 160 million
people even a fraction can represent a significant problem.

Journalist Claudio Julio Tognolli, author of a prize-winning book on the
drug trade, "The Century of Crime," says Brazil has become the main base for
the export of cocaine from other Latin American countries -- notably
Colombia -- to the rest of the world, and all major international mafias
have significant presences in the country.

The author, who traveled widely when doing research for his book, emphasized
the ease of crossing Brazil's border with Peru, Bolivia and Colombia.
Running mostly deep in the Amazon jungle, it is difficult to monitor.

"There isn't the slightest control. The frontiers are unguarded, the police
are easily corrupted -- it's great for the traffickers," Tognolli said.

Border surveillance and control will be a priority when the new secretariat
becomes operational in the next few months, officials said. The task still
will fall to the federal police and internal revenue service, with army
patrols in some areas, but the secretariat will help coordinate the
agencies' activities.

Further complicating the situation is the support drug traffickers sometimes
enjoy from Brazil's poor, who receive free medicines or even sports and
day-care facilities from the outlaws.

There are no reliable statistics on drug use among the general population;
the first household survey by the Brazilian Center for Information on
Psychotropic Drugs will take place later this year. But it is not thought to
be high.

"Only around 3 percent of schoolchildren are regular users of drugs," said
Elisaldo Carlini, director of the center, "but there is a steady growth in
the use of amphetamines, marijuana and cocaine. The secretariat comes at a
good time; hopefully we can keep numbers low."

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